Nāga Tīrtha (Bhogavatī)

Nāga Tīrtha · nāga-tīrtha, “the tīrtha of the nāga”

Nāga has other meanings too: see all meanings of Nāga.

Nāga Tīrtha is a tīrtha on the Gautamī Gaṅgā (the Godāvarī) where Bhagavān Śiva is present as Nāgeśvara, “the Īśvara of the nāga”, installed there by Bhogavatī. Here Bhogavatī and her husband, a prince born in the form of a serpent, bathed and worshipped Śiva, and Śiva freed the serpent from an old śāpa (curse) and granted them both divine forms. Brahmā tells its account to Nārada in the Gautamī Māhātmya of the Brahma Purāṇa. The tīrtha is auspicious and bestows all cherished things, and snāna (holy bath) and dāna (giving) there give the fruit of all yajñas.

The serpent prince

In the city of Pratishṭhāna lived Śūrasena, a prosperous and wise king of the Lunar line. After long efforts a son was born to him and his queen, but the son was a serpent of terrible form. The king raised him in secret; no one but his father and mother knew, not the nurse, the chief minister or the purohita. The serpent spoke like a man. He asked for his saṃskāras, the tonsure, the upanayana and the study of the Vedas, and the king had a brāhmaṇa perform them. Then he asked for a wife, saying that he would drown himself in the Gaṅgā if he were not married, for forcible marriage with weapons is also a marriage among kings.

The king told his ministers that his son Nāga was ready to be married, without telling them that he was a serpent. His old chief minister understood the king’s mind. He went to King Vijaya of the Eastern land, who had eight valorous sons and a daughter, Bhogavatī, like another Lakshmī, and arranged the marriage, speaking both truly and falsely. He said that the prince did not wish to come, and Vijaya celebrated Bhogavatī’s marriage with a weapon standing in for the groom and sent her to Pratishṭhāna with great gifts. Bhogavatī served her husband’s father and mother every day.

Bhogavatī’s devotion

The serpent lived apart in a cool chamber adorned with jewels and flowers, and asked why his wife did not come to him. The queen sent the nurse to tell Bhogavatī that her husband was a serpent. Bhogavatī answered: “A woman of this world usually has a man of this world for a husband; a husband of the divine kind is gained only by puṇya (merit). Show me my husband.” When she saw the terrible serpent, she joined her palms and said: “Blessed am I, honoured am I, whose husband is a deva.” She delighted him with songs, fragrant flowers and her loving touch, and by her grace he regained the memory of his former birth. When he asked why she was not afraid, she said: “Who can pass beyond what fate has laid down? For a woman, her husband is her refuge.”

The serpent’s former birth

The serpent told her: “Once I was a mighty serpent, a son of Śesha, coiled around the arm of Maheśvara, and you were my wife, named Bhogavatī. Once, in private, Bhagavān Śiva laughed aloud at Umā‘s words, and I too laughed in his presence. Then Śambhu pronounced a śāpa on me: ‘You will be born of a human womb, and you will have jñāna and vijñāna.’ You and I together pacified Śambhu, and he said: ‘In serpent form you shall perform my pūjā on the Gautamī. Then you will be freed from the śāpa by the grace of Bhogavatī.’ Take me to the Gautamī and perform the pūjā with me; then I shall be released, and we shall both go to Śiva again. Śiva alone is the refuge of all who are in distress.”

The pūjā and the release

Bhogavatī went with her husband to the Gautamī, bathed, and performed the pūjā of Śiva. Bhagavān Śiva was pleased and granted them divine forms. As the prince made ready to go to Śivaloka with his wife, his father asked him, as his only son and yuvarāja, to rule the kingdom and beget sons, and to go to Śiva’s city only after his parents had gone to the highest abode. The prince agreed. With the beauty of Manmatha he ruled the kingdom with his wife, parents and sons; when his parents went to svarga, he placed his sons on the throne and went with his wife and ministers to Śivapura.

The tīrtha and its phala

From then on the tīrtha is known as Nāga Tīrtha, and its presiding deity is Nāgeśvara. A snāna and the giving of dāna at the place where Bhogavatī installed Bhagavān Nāgeśvara bestow the fruit of all yajñas.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 41

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 41